Due to recent technological advances, individuals and organizations may quickly and easily share, access, and disseminate high volumes of digital information. For many individuals and organizations, the ease with which information may be electronically disseminated is empowering. However, the ubiquity of high-speed Internet access, smart mobile devices, portable storage devices, and third-party storage services may pose unique challenges for individuals and organizations concerned with preventing the loss and/or exposure of sensitive data. Individuals and organizations are therefore increasingly looking to data loss prevention (“DLP”) solutions to protect their sensitive data.
Conventional DLP systems typically attempt to protect sensitive data through the use of monitoring and filtering technologies that control the usage, storage, and flow/or of data within a closed system (e.g., a local area network). For example, a conventional DLP system configured to protect data on a network may scan a document before allowing the document to leave the network to ensure that the document does not contain any sensitive data.
Unfortunately, the use of third-party storage services (e.g., cloud storage services) may introduce additional potential leak points for data. At the same time, a data owner who stores data using third-party storage services may have less control over these potential leak points and, accordingly, less ability to use conventional DLP systems to protect data stored on third-party storage services. As such, the instant disclosure identifies a need for improved methods and systems for detecting cloud-based data leaks.